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Babel
Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Starring: Brad Pitt
Genre:
Action-Adventure/ Drama
Run Time: 142
min.
Release Date:
November 2006
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Communication is vital to
human survival; be it diplomatic, within family units, or at border
crossings. There are tons of examples of deadly ends that have resulted
due to miscommunication. And this is the premise for BABEL, an
award winning film(and probably destined to win even more). Although
I think this is fine, I do think it a tad unfair for a couple of
reasons.
First is that comedies are often pushed aside at these award shows in
favor of dramatic roles. I point this out because this year
LITTLE MISS
SUNSHINE shone brightly with many award nominations but
won too few. Comedic timing is probably one of the toughest achievements
when it comes to script and acting, and to simply pass them by is the
biggest shame in my estimation. Which brings us to Babel...
Although thought-provoking and interesting, Babel isn’t the monolithic
film accomplishment I was expecting. After its multiple wins at Cannes
and its Golden Globe pick-up for Best Picture, I was expecting a
righteously perfect film. I did get a good film, an enjoyable one. But
legendary? Above Little Miss Sunshine? I don’t think so.
Stories are about people, and Babel has that and a bit more. Perhaps too
much more. Similar to CRASH in composition,
Babel tells its story via a
triad. The first is through the eyes of Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate
Blanchett), a married American couple on holiday in Morocco. Well, not
really a holiday. They are there to try and save their marriage after
the SIDS death of an infant son. Both feel equal amounts of guilt and
blame toward the other. While driving in a vacation bus with other
tourists, Susan gets hit by a bullet fired from a hillside by a
ten-year-old Moroccan kid and his elder brother. Richard, forced into
the role of a caring husband, must now try and save his wife’s life
while in the middle of nowhere and with limited communication skills in
a foreign land.
The second part of the triad takes place in Southern California and
concerns Richard and Susan’s two surviving children as they await the
return of their parents from overseas. Amelia (Adriana Barraza), an
illegal Mexican immigrant, watches over their kids and needs to go to a
wedding in Mexico. Unable to find another babysitter for them, she
reluctantly crosses into Mexico with the kids thanks to her cousin
Santiago (Gael Garcia Bernal,
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP), a reckless man with
a short fuse temper. Once in Mexico, everything goes fine. The wedding
is beautiful and original in appearance. But crossing back over the
border into the U.S. presents some nearly fatal results.
The third and final part of the triad involves a deaf-mute Japanese
teenager named Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi). Battling with her mother’s recent
suicide and her own growing sexuality, Chieko struggles to be understood
in a world that’s alive with sounds she’ll never hear nor understand.
Her father was also a great big game hunter and once gave a nice, new
rifle to one of his guides as thanks for a successful hunt; the same gun
used to shoot Susan in Morocco.
There’s a fourth leg to this story, too (not really a triad now, is it),
in that the Moroccan boys and their family are unfortunately involved in
the shooting of the American through their own foolishness and the
illegal obtaining of a high-powered rifle (which was supposed to be used
to kill jackals that eat their goat herd).
The big problem with the entire story is that it’s built on such a grand
scale that it just can’t stand up under its own, great weight
...especially when comparing it to something like Little Miss Sunshine
(which got the audience very intimate with its characters). That’s not
to say that Babel isn’t watchable or even good. It is both. I’m glad I
saw it. But on par with Little Miss Sunshine and the like? I don’t think
so.
(back to top) |
Image from Babel
DVD cost: $22.26
Purchase:
Tower.com (Blu-Ray)
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy: Brad Pitt
gave up one of the starring roles in
The Departed
(2006) (a film he co-produced) in order to participate in this film, as
he's a longtime fan of director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's films.
Movie Quote: "My
wife's been hurt. Is anyone a doctor?"
Other Actors/Actresses
from Babel
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